Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-03-09
Z" MAST HOPE"

"A Curious Mishap Recalls Terrible Ca
| tastrophe.
Scranton, (Pa.) Cor. New York Sun, February Is
Late Saturday night Dennis Mack
engineer on 81 switch engine in the
yards of the Lackawanna Iron and
Coal Company in this city, ran his en-
CINE into the engine house AS he was
to go on duty again at o'clock Sun
day morning be lay down in the cab
OF his engine to sleep until that time.
Just before l o'clock workmen in the
yard were startled by q great crash
at the engine house, which is a
frame building. Looking in the
direction of the house they saw one
side OF it give way and Mack's engine
come tearing out OF the breach. The
engine ran a short distance over the
ground and then toppled over down
an embankment twenty feet high. It
rolled over and over in the descent,
and was badly wrecked. The work
men knew that Mack was on the en-
CINE. and expected to find him crushed
to death in the debris. They found
him fast in the wreck, and although
he was held SO that it took them some
time to extricate him, he was found to
have received but q few slight injuries.
Mack could not explain what caused
the engine to start, but it is supposed
that he started up In his sleep and
pulled the throttle open.
This singular occurrence recalls the
fact that one of the most terrible
railroad disasters that ever occurred
IN this country was caused by an en-
gineer starting his engine while he was
asleep. 1t was in July, 1869, on the
Erie Railway, at Mast Hope Station,
on the Delaware division. The track
was then single one on that part of
the road. Conductor Jud Brown had
orders to lie on the switch at Mast
Hope until fast express train No. 3,
bound west, passed. James Griffin
was the engineer OF the freight train.
AS the express train approached the
station at midnight, running thirty.
two miles an hour, Conductor
Brown was Mortified to see
his train pulling out on the
main track. Griffin's engine reached
the main track directly in front of
the result. The cars on the express
train were piled on top ofone another
and caught fire. Many passengers
were killed outright. A dozen others
were held in the wreck and burned
alive. The depot caught fire and was
destroyed. Griffin discovered the sit
uation in time to Jump from his en-
CINE. He fed, but afrerward surren-
dered himself and was lodged in the
Pike County Jail. He was tried for
manslaughter in September, 1869.
He was defended by the late Chief JUS
tice George w. Woodward. 1t was
proved on the trial that he had been
on duty "a hours without sleep, and
the point made by the defense was that
while waiting on the switch he was
overcome by the strain and fell asleep.
He was partially awakened by the APP
preaching train, and pulled open the
throttle of his engine before he knew
what he was doing. A sympathetic
jury acquitted him, against the charge
of Judge Barrett to convict, and were
publicly censured by the Court. The
disaster made the name of Mast Hope
so notorious all over the country that
the railroad company changed the
name Of the station to Pine Grove,
which it retained until few weeks
ago, when it was changed back to
Mast Hope. The remains of several
of the victims of the catastrophe were
never identified. The disaster cost
the company 100000.